The present invention relates to a system for supplying at least one electrical load or energy storage device with direct current by means of a plurality of electric generators located at rollers—in particular, track rollers or support rollers—of a cableway system.
In cableway systems it is known to design a track roller of a cableway vehicle or a support roller for a haulage cable or for a traction cable with an electric generator. In this respect, reference is made to EP 1 992 539 B1, EP 2 623 389 A1 and WO 2008/12019 A1.
By this means, by virtue of the motion of a cableway vehicle along a supporting cable of the cableway system by means of this track roller the electrical energy required in the vehicle—by which a heating system, for example, is operated—can be generated. To the extent that support rollers or hold-down rollers located on supports of cableway systems are concerned, the electrical energy required for electrical or electronic appliances located on the supports can be generated by this means. As a result of this, there is no requirement to run electrical leads to the supports.
As a rule, the electrical energy generated by a generator of such a type is fed into a battery from which electrical or electronic appliances are supplied with the requisite current. For the feeding of the battery, the alternating current generated by the generator is converted into direct current by means of a rectifier. Subsequently the voltage of this direct current is brought by means of a voltage converter to a predetermined constant voltage with which the battery is fed.
The supply of the electrical or electronic appliances with current can also be undertaken directly from the voltage converter.
The track rollers of running-gear assemblies of cableway vehicles, or the support rollers and hold-down rollers located on supports, via which haulage cables or traction cables of cableway systems are routed, have varying diameters—for production-engineering reasons or by reason of abrasive-wear phenomena—and varying rotational speeds by reason of varying running characteristics, by virtue of which varying electrical values as regards frequency and voltage arise at the outputs of electric generators provided therein or coupled therewith for entrainment. To the extent that the electrical energy generated by these generators is output to an electrical load assigned to said generators or to a battery, there is therefore a requirement to provide a control circuit for this, by which it is ensured that the electrical load or the battery is supplied from the generators with current that has a predetermined voltage.